Zara Ali is an American composer and multimedia artist based in Germany. Her diverse musicalstyle encompasses vivid programs, rich microtonal harmonies, close attention to electroacoustic tone color, and the translation of structural concepts (e.g., (geometry, kinetics, temporality) into sound. Her music has been programmed in Europe, North America and Asia, including in Berlin Konzerthaus, Gaudeamus Muziekweek, impuls Festival for Contemporary Music, cresc. Biennale für aktuelle Musik Frankfurt Rhein Main, the Royaumont Festival, Archipel Festival, Tanglewood Festival, and Seoul International Computer Music Festival. In 2023, she won the renowned Gaudeamus Award and was selected for Deutsche Oper’s New Scenes VII for a new work for chamber opera. In 2022, she received the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Award in Composition from the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Hochschulwettbewerb, the oldest classical music competition in Germany. She also received the Sonderpreis from the Freunde Junger Musiker Deutschland. In 2021, she received the JACK Studio Award competitive studio grant from the renowned JACK Quartet to compose a new work to be premiered in their 2023 season. In 2017, she received the Robert H. Burns Prize in chamber music composition. Zara received her B.A. from Columbia University in 2018 and her M.M. in music composition at the Hochschule für Musik Detmold in 2022. Zara was the composer-in-residence of the Internationale Ensemble Modern Akademie for 2022-23.

“My time in Schöppingen was replete with reflection in many domains. I spent time creating the story for my Kammeropera, collaborating remotely with the Berlin-based writer Hannah Dübgen. I spent some afternoons in the library, becoming more acquainted with German literature. I worked on my project with the Fabrik Quartet and dancers, preparing for a workshop in Frankfurt in which we experimented with the physics connecting dance and string quartet playing. I am grateful for the space and time the Künstlerdorf offers artists and I made lasting friendships with the other fellows during my stay.”